Which option do you suggest?

I recently had problems with my pc. All software recovery option's have been tried with the only option to replace the HDD. So when it happens I will have a clean install of Windows XP including all the preinstalled software you usually get and nothing else. I have two option's to take and would like your advice on which you feel is the best one. I have a Acronis TI9 backup of my entire windows C: drive, held as appx 15 4.4gb files on an external SATA 300gb HDD. I also have all my essential data backed up on cd's.

Take into consideration I have never performed a TI9 restore before. Also, I have installed and uninstalled numerous apps over the last 12 months and my TI9 backup will contain all the dregs that previous installation's left behind.

I agree, if you have an installation CD, I would start over.
That way you remember your hardware setup better, you can install updates of drivers, maybe you have different ideas of settings and want to implement that.
Restore from image is easy and fast, but you stay better in touch when you install fresh.

i also agree that doing a fresh reinstall would be best for a clean system that is going to run the best it can....i also agree that it would be a good idea to make an image of your clean, fresh reinstall with ti9 when you're done so you can easily return to this clean state anytime you wish. in fact, i recently did both of these things, and am happy i did...computer running good, and faster!

I would also vote for option 2. A clean install gives you always the opportunity to create one or several clean backups at wish, that can be used in the future to reinstall your computer from scratch again using your backup file instead of doing it manually.